State erosion : unlootable resources and unruly elites in Central Asia / Lawrence P. Markowitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Markowitz, Lawrence P., 1970- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Elite (Social sciences)--Political activity.

Elite (Social sciences).

Natural resources--Political aspects.

Natural resources.

Failed states.

Tajikistan--Politics and government--1991-.

Tajikistan.

Politics and government.

Uzbekistan--Politics and government--1991-.

Uzbekistan.

Failed states--Tajikistan.

Natural resources--Political aspects--Tajikistan.

Natural resources--Political aspects--Uzbekistan.

Elite (Social sciences)--Political activity--Tajikistan.

Elite (Social sciences)--Political activity--Uzbekistan.

Physical Description:

xv, 195 pages : maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, New York : Cornell University Press, 2013.

Summary:

"State failure is a central challenge to international peace and security in the post-Cold War era. Yet theorizing on the causes of state failure remains surprisingly limited. In State Erosion, Lawrence P. Markowitz draws on his extensive fieldwork in two Central Asian republics--Tajikistan, where state institutions fragmented into a five-year civil war from 1992 through 1997, and Uzbekistan, which constructed one of the largest state security apparatuses in post-Soviet Eurasia--to advance a theory of state failure focused on unlootable resources, rent seeking, and unruly elites. In Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and other countries with low capital mobility--where resources cannot be extracted, concealed, or transported to market without state intervention--local elites may control resources, but they depend on patrons to convert their resources into rents. Markowitz argues that different rent-seeking opportunities either promote the cooptation of local elites to the regime or incite competition over rents, which in turn lead to either cohesion or fragmentation. Markowitz distinguishes between weak states and failed states, challenges the assumption that state failure in a country begins at the center and radiates outward, and expands the "resource curse" argument to include cash crop economies, where mechanisms of state failure differ from those involved in fossil fuels and minerals"-- Publisher's Web site.

Contents:

Rethinking the resource curse

Resources and rents under Soviet rule

Pathways to failure : Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

Tajikistan's fractious state

Coercion and rent-seeking in Uzbekistan

Weak and failed states in comparative perspective.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780801451874

0801451876

OCLC:

843037564